撒切爾夫人葬禮今日舉行 靈車護送途中路人注目

Through busy streets, past some of the landmarks of her time in office, Baroness Thatcher was returned to Parliament yesterday, scene of some of her greatest triumphs.
通過繁忙的街道，路經幾處她任期內的標誌性建築，撒切爾夫人昨日被運抵議會，這裏是她獲得最偉大成就的地方之一。

After so long out of the public eye, the former prime minister was allowed to take centre stage again on this, the first leg of her final journey.
長時間淡出公共視線之後，英國前首相得到許可重新回到這裏，作爲她最終行程的起點。

There were no military bands, no massed crowds lining the streets, and none of the pomp and ceremony that will accompany her funeral today.
今天的葬禮不會有軍隊護送，街道兩邊沒有擁擠的人羣，也不會有盛大典禮。

But the 30 minutes it took to transport her coffin across London was a prelude to Lady Thatcher’s last stand – her return to the Palace of Westminster, the battleground where she made her name.
但是這段用時30分鐘穿過倫敦街道運送棺柩的過程僅是撒切爾夫人葬禮的序曲，她將回到她成名的戰場威斯敏斯特宮。

It began with her coffin being placed into a standard hearse at a funeral directors’ headquarters in North London and draped in a Union Jack.
棺柩放置在倫敦北部葬禮承辦總部的標準靈車中，上面披着英國國旗。

Then five motorcycle outriders and a shadowing police helicopter escorted it through the capital’s busy weekday traffic to a splendid, temporary resting place in readiness for the big day.
五輛摩托車警衛及一架警用直升機保護靈車穿過首都工作日擁擠的車流，送到一處豪華的地方暫歇，準備迎接這盛大的一天。

In defiance of the anarchy threatened for her funeral, the journey was punctuated by simple ripples of applause, and even provoked a few cheers along the way.
除了威脅到葬禮秩序的混亂場面，行程中不時穿插着一片片掌聲，有時甚至激起一陣歡呼。

Cars came to a standstill as drivers realised this was no ordinary ists, passers-by and a scattering of spectators suddenly found themselves witnessing a moment in history.
護送車隊停了下來，駕駛者意識到這不是一般的列隊行進。遊客、路人以及觀衆發現自己正在見證歷史的一幕。

Street before driving slowly up to the Lords’ entrance to Parliament. Here, maybe only by chance, the Iron Lady lay briefly in the shadow of a bronze statue of Richard the Lionheart.
車慢慢行進到議會上議院的入口。或許是偶然地，鐵娘子躺在了獅心王理查德銅像的庇廕下。

An undertaker lifted a large wreath – a circle of white roses with a hand-written card inscribed: ‘Beloved Mother, Always in our Hearts’ – from the coffin to allow four pall-bearers in black ties to carry the casket inside.
一名殯儀工作人員舉起靈柩上的大花圈，花圈堆滿白玫瑰，上面一張手寫卡片寫道：“親愛的媽媽，您永遠活在我們心中。”四名佩戴黑領帶的擡棺人將靈柩擡進去。

And then, moments before Big Ben sounded the hour, she was gone from public view.
大本鐘敲響四點時，撒切爾夫人被送走。

Once, Lady Thatcher would have taken her place inside as the dominant figure at the heart of some rowdy Commons debate, surrounded by baying enemies and noisy allies.
曾經，撒切爾夫人是下議院辯論的核心人物，總是被憤怒的對手和喧鬧的盟友圍在中間。

Now, in a solitary coffin beneath the silent, vaulted emptiness of an ornate crypt, she was alone. For the next 18 hours, ahead of today’s procession to St Paul’s, she was scheduled to remain in the marble and stone surroundings of the chapel of St Mary Undercroft, deep beneath St Stephen’s Hall.
現在，在教堂沉寂而華麗的拱形地下室中，她獨自躺在棺材裏。接下來的18個小時，在今天要去聖保羅大教堂之前，她將留在周遭由大理石建成的聖瑪麗教堂裏，就在聖史蒂芬大廳的地下深處。